Jacob Prestor
'History' Possibly the most famous chemist of all time. Louis Pasteur was born in France in 1822 and was educated at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, graduating in 1847. He served as a professor at many universities for the next 20 years, generally teaching chemistry, but occasionally teaching physics as well. During these years, Pasteur made great advances in the field of microbiology. He disproved the theory of Spontaneous Generation, which held that lower life forms could originate from nonliving matter, and popularized pasteurization. In 1857, he presented a paper which claimed differing sorts of microbes were responsible for the various kind of fermentation which take place, and that microbes were also responsible for many illnesses. This paper laid the groundwork for one of his greatest contributions to the scientific world - the germ theory of disease. This theory refined in work in the late 1870's and early 1880's resulting in the discovery of the science of immunization. It was his work with rabies which provided funds for the founding of the Pasteur Institute. The Pasteur Institute was founded in 1887 with Louis as its first director. It was at the Pasteur Institute that the great scientist met Georges. Georges held special interest for Pasteur as a scientific curiosity. Georges seemed to posses a natural immunity to disease which Pasteur hoped to be able to replicate. For his part, Georges hoped Pasteur would be able to aid him in his search for a cure to what he thought of as the disease that afflicted him - vampirism. In 1890, he confided in Pasteur, and they began to research the issue of vampirism under a veil of secrecy. For the next few years they experimented. Presteur, though partly paralyzed by a stroke in 1868, believed he was making great progress under the masterful direction of Georges, now employed as a lab assistant at the Institute. Together they developed a serum, derived from Georges' blood, that could induce vampirism. This serum was the first step towards developing an antidote to cure those so afflicted. By this time however, Pasteur's health had truly begun to fail. Georges surrendered hope when it became apparent that Pasteur was soon to die, and disappeared. Pasteur, driven by the thought of the work only he could do, did not give up hope. On September 28, 1895, he injected himself with the serum he and Georges had prepared. That night, he died. The next night he lived again...in a fashion. He allowed himself to be buried, only to escape from his own grave. He fled his old life, taking with him only those notes he deemed vital to his research. He began again seeking a cure for vampriism. This research eventually drew the attention of the ancient Cainite Thaddeus, who saw in it the end of his way of life, and possibly the end of his race. Thaddeus begane to harass Pasteur, even attempting upon occasion to destroy him. Pasteur was forced to move often and take a variety of names to evade this ancient threat. Constant travel, combined with the unexpected difficulty of his task, kept him from making much more progress in his research. He did make a number of allies through the years, including his wife Rachel from his living days, and managed to use their blood for more experiments. Unfortunately most of his friends were killed off by Thaddeus and he was forced to turn Rachel into a vampire after she was mortally wounded. This made Pasteur very wary about making new allies or staying associated with anyone for too long. He only sired one childe of his own, Ruby Hawks, a young amish girl whom he felt would do a lot of good in the world and could hopefully one day help him create his cure as his new lab assistant. Unfortunately it was not to be as soon after the girl's embrace, Thaddeus once again forced Pasteur to flee, almost killing him in a horrible house fire. Eventually, Pasteur arrived in Denver, where he took on the name Jacob Prestor. Thaddeus followed, and used a new tactic: he insinuated himself into the court of the Prince of Denver, a vampire named Edward, and convinced Edward that Prestor meant to make a bid for control of the city. Edward, naturally paranoid, was swayed by Prestor's secretive nature and stepped in to assassinate Prestor, Thaddeus, his purpose achieved simply slipped back into the shadows and watched as his greatest foe was disposed of for him. Prestor had discovered Edward meant to kill him, so against his will, he felt forced into the creation of allies in the form of more vampires. He purposely dropped clues for Ruby so that she could trace his steps and find him in Denver. He then salved his conscience with the conviction that he would succeed in his research, and that the vampirism of his allies would only be temporary. Unfortunately, after creating his fledgling vampires out of Koln and Clover, Edward's assassins attacked him before he could properly brief them as to their state and his plans. Prestor met his final death at the hands of Edward's closest court members: Duke, Earl, and the Count. 'Appearance' Heavy set and bearded, with a wild flame in his eyes. 'Prominent Features' Aside from a wild feral look in his eyes, Jacob Prestor's most prominent feature is his great mind. He was possibly the most intelligent man in science of his time. References External links *Vampire: The Masquerade's Link on Wikipedia. * The Official Vampire: The Masquerade Website Category:characters